RanMay
by Jester Of Doom
Summary: A Ranma and Hand Maid May crossover. A young Ranma recives May instead of Kazuya and she goes with him on his training trip.
1. Default Chapter

As time flows the multiverse branches in every direction with new worlds with new pasts due to the actions of the present are born. Any act, be it the destruction of a solar system to simply deciding to wake up a few minutes later can have a staggering, or equally likely an inconsequential, effect on the world. Take for example if you will a ramen vendor of humble means deciding to set up shop in a new location. Truly anything is a possibility.  
  
RanMay 1/2  
Part 1. For the Love of Ramen!  
By the Jester of Doom  
  
  
Disclaimer: all characters used in this story belong to their respective authors. As much as I would like to own Ranma ½, Hand Maid May, or the training in Dragon Ball I don't, so there I said it now please don't sue.  
  
In apartment 204 of Kasumi's Inn Kazuya Saotome's heart was still racing after just stopping a net virus his old "friend" Nambara had infected his computer with. He had been attempting to make an artificial intelligence program for his robotic squid, Ikaria. So far he had failed 37 times. Nambara had given him a disk so he could access a secret site and further his work but once he got there he had to type a ridiculously long series of passwords to keep something terrible from happening, but in the end the virus still affected his computer due to a typing error. His computer had then accessed some weird website but he had just gotten it to stop and everything seemed to have come out of the ordeal ok.  
  
Ding-Dong!  
  
Kazuya was jerked out of a slight daze by the doorbell and ran to answer it. "Coming!"  
  
Outside his window and across a ladder, in her own room Kasumi, the landlady's daughter had just finished getting dressed and was about to go cheer Kazuya up on another failed attempt to make his program. She had seen the wild light effects that the virus had caused and guessed this was failure number 38.  
  
Kazuya opened his door to find behind it a fat bald man wearing a white gi and bandana. With him was a boy who had black hair tied back in a pigtail wearing a red Chinese silk shirt and black silk pants. He wasn't sure who they were but guessed that they had the wrong address; maybe they wanted his next door neighbor. Good-luck finding him though, especially when Kasumi was collecting rent.  
  
"Hello sir how can I help you?" Kazuya asked nicely.  
  
"Don't tell me you don't recognize your own flesh and blood boy! The boy and I came here out of our busy martial arts training regime and you don't even recognize us? I'm your uncle Genma Saotome and this is your cousin Ranma. Your father at least mentioned us didn't he?"  
  
"I'm sorry I haven't spoken to him in quite awhile, he must have mentioned you sometime." Said Kazuya in earnest shame, he knew he was absent minded but not recognizing your family if they came to visit was horribly unforgivable. "Please come right in."  
  
Genma smiled as he walked into the apartment, it was just so easy he felt like laughing out loud, finally he had gotten free food and shelter and the dope didn't even suspect that they weren't related, all the other Saotomes he tried it on had kicked him out. It was just a good thing that the person who had been at his door had suddenly run off; he was about to just go on without trying this scam.  
  
"Kazuya" yelled Kasumi from his window, "Who is it? Newspaper bill collector? A girlfriend who wants to break up?"  
  
Kazuya stepped back into the room with Ranma and Genma behind him. "Kasumi this is my uncle Genma and his son Ranma. Genma, Ranma this is Kasumi."  
  
Always trying to get whatever he could for free Genma quickly thought of a way to not only get room and board but free sake as well. "I have an idea boy, why don't we go get some sake and become better acquainted, and I'm sure your girlfriend here would be more than happy to join us."  
  
Kazuya looked shocked beyond words "Gir…girlfri..!" he managed to stammer before Kasumi cut him off.  
  
"I would love to go." She said giving the still shocked Kazuya a sly glance out the corner of her eye, which he completely missed because his mind was running over all the horrible responses Kasumi might have to being called his girlfriend. It took him several seconds to realize she had agreed to go and he relaxed. Then it took several more seconds before he realized that she hadn't objected and became even more shocked.  
  
"Well then let's get going then" Genma said grabbing them both by their shoulders and pushing them together and then out of the room.  
  
Ranma, realizing he was alone started to look for anything valuable that his cousin wouldn't miss, just like his pop had said to. A few minutes into the search the doorbell rang again and he went to answer it. At the door was a tall woman dressed with an orange and black uniform with a box in one hand and a ramen bowl in the other. Before Ranma could say anything she held out the box to him "Here is the package you ordered. Please give me your stamp."  
  
Ranma just stared up at her. She wanted a stamp? Why a stamp? And why did she think he had one? It made no sense to him at all. Before he could ask her anything a sound that promised ramen was caught by the delivery girl's ears and after a quick glance telling her that her ramen bowl was empty she disappeared over the rail of the second floor hallway and out of sight.  
  
Ranma looked at the box in his hands and wondered who would have sent him a package. He hurried to the other room and sat down to open it but as he tried it started to move a little and then it started to speak "Its to small… its dark, really dark!" before Ranma processed the words he realized he was holding a boxed that talked and that boxes don't talk, therefore it was… it was a…. MONSTER! Doing the first thing he could think of he tried to get rid of the creature by throwing it out the window. The small balcony outside the window caught the box and it started to speak again.  
  
"Please let me out, that hurt! I don't want to be in here anymore!"  
  
This time Ranma heard what it said not just that it talked. Monsters don't sound like that, it sounded like a person. How a person fit in the box he didn't know but he had to help a person in trouble, it was a martial artist's code of honor. Slowly and still not sure it absolutely wasn't a monster Ranma crept towards the box. He reached the window and carefully picked it up, ready for it to attack. Slowly he pulled off the plain brown wrapping paper and started to open it. It blinked at him. It had eyes? It had eyes! It was a monster! Ranma threw the box up in surprise. At the peak of its climb upwards the box separated and bottom and top fell to the right and left while in the middle there was a small girl ten or so inches tall and looked to be around 17 years old and wearing a pink and white maids outfit, she had brown hair that ran down to the middle of her back with one lock braided and ending just in front of her shoulder. Ranma quickly reached out and grabbed the small screaming girl as she fell.  
  
A little at a loss for words Ranma managed to ask "Are you ok?"  
  
The girl hanging upside down from his hand smiled at him and replied "Yes! Thank you very much! I was just startled."  
  
Ranma brought the doll sized girl in and placed her on the table and sat in front of her. As soon as he sat down she started to speak. "This cyberdoll is Cyber dine Co.'s authorized genuine registered product. Cyberdolls must be handled according to cyber dine Co.'s standard provision. And if you do not agree with the standard provision please stop using the product and return the cyberdoll and all other parts back to cyber dine Co. immediately. I will now begin the registration process." Ranma was a little surprised by all this, but answered all her questions as well as he could.  
  
"Alright, with this you have completed the user's registration." She said smiling at him. "Thank you for earlier when it was dangerous. My name is May, cyberdoll may." She then bowed to her new owner.  
  
"I'm Ranma Saotome of the Saotome school of Anything Goes martial arts."  
  
"Anything Goes martial arts?" said May with a confused look on her face.  
  
"It's a school that takes all other schools into itself, nothing can beat it. Do you know any martial arts?"  
  
May shook her head. "No, I have no programming for martial arts. If you would like I can learn it, even though I look small I have high capabilities."  
  
"You can learn it with me then! Pops is taking me on a training journey around Japan so you'll have lots of time to learn."  
  
"That's great master Ranma!" she said beaming him a smile.  
  
"You can just call me Ranma." He said feeling uncomfortable being addressed that way after all his father was still the master of Anything Goes, not knowing she wasn't referring to it in martial arts terms. May filed the term master as optional. They talked for awhile about where Ranma had been so far in his journey, Ranma went on for an especially long time about his pal Ukyo who he had to leave. Their conversation was only interrupted when the front door opened.  
  
Kazuya and Kasumi guided in Genma who seemed to have more alcohol in him than blood. They put Genma on Kazuya's bed and he was asleep immediately. Then Kasumi gave Kazuya a quick peck on the cheek, a wink, and then hopped out the window, went over the ladder and into her room. She didn't seem to notice Ranma or May; she seemed to busy enjoying how much effect what she had just done had on Kazuya. Kazuya meanwhile was in a complete stupor.   
  
"Ranma, who are they?" may asked confused by the new appearances.  
  
"These are my cousin Kazuya and my pop. The girl who was just here was Kasumi, Kazuya's girlfriend." Said Ranma after a taking a moment to remember Kazuya and Kasumi's names.  
  
"Gir...girlfriend?" Kazuya stammered coming out of his stupor. Then he remembered that he had been out for hours and must have left his young cousin completely alone. "Ranma, I'm so sorry I didn't realize I had left you here alone are you ok?"  
  
"I was fine, besides I wasn't alone, May was here." Said Ranma happily and gesturing to the cyberdoll on the table in front of him.  
  
"Hello Kazuya! I'm cyberdoll May. It's nice to meet you." May said politely bowing to him.  
  
Kazuya, surprised to see what looked like a doll managed to stammer back "it's nice to meet you too may." Then he sat down at the table as well for a closer look. Curiously he asked "what are you may? Where did you come from?"  
  
"May is a maid model robot made by Cyber dine Co. even though I am small I have high capabilities. For example…" said May as she started to make her hands glow and began to charge the area between them.  
  
"For example?" asked Kazuya  
  
"HYA!" yelled May as she shot a small red beam at the TV which suddenly switched on. "I can do things like this" she said turning to Kazuya.  
  
"Eh..? Oh..." said Kazuya a little disappointed that this highly advanced robot was a remote control.  
  
"That was great May, do it again!" said Ranma; who, because he didn't live anywhere, didn't ever watch TV or know remote controls were very common items. To him being able to turn on appliances was a trick worthy of being your only one.  
  
"Really? You like it?" asked May overjoyed that her new owner was happy. "Alright! HYA! HYA!" she flipped the channel twice then stated. "This time the great feat of channel and volume at the same time!" she started to power up again. "HYAaaah…" her hands lost their glow and she her yell turned into a yawn as she slowly slid to the surface of the table.  
  
"MAY! Are you ok?!" Ranma asked urgently crouching low to the top of the table where she lay.  
  
Sleepily May responded "Ranma, first time shipping cyberdolls like may only have a small amount of battery power charged. There is a battery charger in the package use that…." Before Kazuya had a chance to ask what parcel she was talking about Ranma had jumped out the window to the ground below. Ranma searched the ground until he found the only thing other than the box and ran around the building and up the stairs to Kazuya's room with it. Kazuya was about to run to the window to see if Ranma was alright was surprised to see the boy was fine and already back at his apartment. Ranma placed the charger on the table beside May and tried to figure out how to work it.  
  
Seeing the item Ranma had carried in with him was clearly broken Kazuya quickly set up a work station at his computer table to fix May. "Do you think she'll be alright?" Ranma asked worriedly.  
  
Soon Kazuya had repaired the key components to the re-charger but it wasn't nearly the same as it had been. All that was left was to attach it to the recharge plug. He carefully set May down and searched her for the recharge plug but found it nowhere. Carefully he removed most of her clothing but still found no plug. She was down to her underwear and all that he had accomplished was come very close to getting a nosebleed. He looked over to Ranma who was watching unphased by what Kazuya was doing. "Ranma could you go wait in the kitchen until I'm done." Said Kazuya trying to keep from exposing someone as young as him to anything more.  
  
"Will she be alright?" asked Ranma worriedly. This was his best friend since he left Ukyo and he wanted to make sure she was fine.  
  
"There's nothing to worry about. But you should wait in the other room for awhile." Said Kazuya trying his hardest to avoid having to give the real reason. Listening to his cousin Ranma took one last worried look and then went to wait in the kitchen. Kazuya then slowly removed her bra and almost lost it because of how realistically May had been built. The plug wasn't their though the only place left was….  
  
-----  
  
The next morning May slowly woke up to find Ranma watching over her. He had fallen asleep last night while Kazuya was still working but had woken when the sun rose and had been watching over her since. "MAY! Are you ok?" Ranma practically yelled due to his excitement at seeing his friend was ok. It was loud enough to wake Kazuya who had slept in his chair where he had repaired May.  
  
"Yes! May is fine!" said may happily standing up. Then she noticed a white cable running out of her dress and into one of the Kazuya's computer's USB ports. "But what is this cord Ranma."  
  
"Your re-charger was broken so Kazuya fixed you, so now you have that cord." Explained Ranma.  
  
"Thank you Kazuya! That was very nice of you!" May beamed a smile at him.  
  
"I... uh... it was... ah... nothing!" Kazuya managed to say while looking away nervously. "Since the re-charger was broken I modified a USB wire now whenever you need to be recharged you can just hook it into a computer for a few hours. Do you have a computer with a USB port at your house Ranma?"  
  
Ranma thought as hard as he could but he couldn't even remember having a computer. All his memories of his house were fuzzy and short; most of them were also focused on the yard and dinner table. His favorite activities after all were eating and martial arts. "I don't think so; I don't really remember anything at my house."  
  
Kazuya looked concerned for Ranma "you can't remember your house? How long have you been away?"  
  
"Pop and I have been on our training journey for about two years, he said were gonna keep training until he can make me the worlds best martial artist and a man among men." Then Ranma grew slightly worried about having no way to help May if she felt bad again because he had no computer. "Is there some way we can fix May to not need a computer?"  
  
Kazuya looked at his cousins eyes and could see worry for May clearly showing in them. He smiled reassuringly at the boy "I'm sure we can, I'll just need to pick up a few parts from an electronics store nearby. We can go get them now if you want."  
  
Ranma smiled at knowing May would be alright without going to his house and nodded. He stood up and picked up may off the table and was ready to go. Soon the three were at the electronics store. Meanwhile Genma was just waking up.  
  
Ranma had never seen as many strange things as he did in the store, not counting the physics defying martial arts he and his father practiced. Even stranger than all the electronic parts in the store was that Kazuya seemed to know them all. Ranma had asked what several of the things he selected were and Kazuya had given a name for every one. Soon Kazuya had all the pieces needed for May and had also purchased some parts to upgrade Ikaria since he was there anyway. Ranma followed Kazuya out the door somewhat temped to ask him to stay and tell him what everything else was, only his desire to make sure may was alright made him decide not to.  
  
When they arrived back at the apartment Genma was waiting for them. "Boy where have you been! Have you practiced yet today?"  
  
Before Ranma could explain the situation Kazuya answered for him. "I'm sorry uncle it's my fault. I took him to the store with me; I didn't know he had to train."  
  
Genma grumbled something they couldn't hear then strained a smile. "No problem boy, I'll simply have Ranma make up for it in extended practices while we travel." Genma had wasn't to dig into the boy for skipping practice but he didn't want Kazuya to become offended and kick him out before he could steal something valuable., so far he had only found junk in this apartment. Almost everything Kazuya had seemed worthless other than his computer; he didn't even have alcohol for Genma to swipe, just milk. Oh the shame of even pretending he was related to someone who didn't drink, though that was nothing next to the shame of him having a plush squid toy, the boy was in college and he still and he liked dolls!  
  
Unfortunately for Ranma Genma just happened to see may still in Ranma's hands while thinking how sad a sight Kazuya was. His strained smile cracked and he blew his top at his son's girlish behavior. "BOY! What are you doing with that doll?!"  
  
"She's not a doll pop, she's May." Said Ranma. He held the cyberdoll in his hands up to his father for a better look.  
  
"Hello Mr. Saotome. I'm May. It's nice to meet you." Said my bowing as well as she could while Ranma held her. Genma looked shocked, he was as startled by the doll as when Ranma had thought the box she came in was a monster. Then regaining his composure he stood in silence for a moment looking over the doll and for a moment thought he drank so much last night he had to still be drunk.  
  
"Mr. Saotome are you alright?" asked May worriedly seeing him not move a muscle since she had greeted him.  
  
Genma snapped out of his surprised state when she spoke again. "Of course I am. You think a small surprise like this could do anything to someone with my mental prowess." Genma tried to look knowledgeable and strong-minded to reinforce his words through a dramatic pose; all he did though was make him look stupider than normal. (Quite an accomplishment really.) "But I would like to know where you came from May, what exactly are you?"  
  
May responded with her preprogrammed response to these questions. "May is a maid model robot made by Cyber dine Co. even though I am small I have high capabilities." Genma was just thinking of how to make money selling the robot, he wasn't sure how much it was worth after all it looked useless but it said it was a maid and that would at the very least be useful, then may recapped the events of the past day. "I was given to Ranma yesterday while you were out but while opening my box my re-charger was broken. After you returned I met Kazuya and he maid me a new way to recharge. We were out today to buy parts so I can travel with you and get recharged along the way."   
  
Genma growled slightly. The doll had revealed that it had been broken, whatever it had been worth it was probably worth nothing now. He looked Ranma in the eye anger slightly showing on his face. "Well you better get her ready to leave soon. We have already taken too long a break from your training."  
  
"You have to leave already uncle? Well it won't take me long to finish this. Would you like to see how I make it Ranma?" Kazuya said turning from Genma to Ranma.  
  
Genma was about to object but Ranma had already nodded in agreement and he couldn't make Ranma listen by force, he could tell that would get Kazuya angry and possible cause them to be kicked out prematurely. Grumbling slightly Genma left to look for any information about nearby dojos they could challenge or training areas. Kazuya led Ranma back to his work area, pulled out his supplies and started to build. Ranma placed May on the desk to watch and stood next to him in rapt attention, absorbing the whole process. It didn't take long to complete the project, the end result of which was a black box about the size of a lunch box that weighted much more than it looked like it should with a plug that went into an outlet, a modified USB port and a small meter that showed how full it was.  
  
Kazuya grinned and handed the box to Ranma "here you go. May should have no trouble being away from computers now. Just make sure you charge this whenever it starts to run low."  
  
"This is great Kazuya! How did you make it so fast?" Ranma asked while looking over the device.  
  
"It was nothing; I've built electronics my whole life. I'm even building a robot like an early version of May."  
  
"You built something like May? Can I meet her Kazuya?" asked Ranma getting excited at there being another may to talk to. On the table May shook her head; she wanted to meet someone like herself too.  
  
Kazuya walked over to his computer and took down Ikaria. He held the blue squid down where Ranma and May could get a good look at it. "This is Ikaria." He looked at his guests and saw they looked slightly disappointed. "He currently doesn't work right but with pieces I picked up today I will be able to upgrade him. You can watch how I do it if you want."  
  
Ranma nodded and moved closer to the desk as Kazuya set down the squid and removed its blue protective "skin". Inside what had a moment before seemed to be just a plush doll was a maze of wires, circuits, and hundreds of parts Ranma still had to ask about. Through out the process Ranma asked about every piece that Kazuya encountered. Kazuya gave him the name and a small description of what they all did. At the end he placed Ikaria back into his casing and plugged him into his PC  
  
"Ikaria Upgraded" came a voice from the squid.  
  
May walked over to the other robot and inspected it. "Kazuya how is it different from before?" she asked bending toward it for a better look.  
  
"Oissu." Said the squid raising one of the small flippers on its head to her. May was slightly startled but returned its greeting half heartedly.  
  
"Oissu."  
  
"Louder!" demanded the squid. "Oissu!"  
  
"OISSU!" said May with more feeling.  
  
"One more time!"  
  
"OISSU!"  
  
Kazuya smiled as he watched the two. "I just enhanced the AI" Kazuya explained.   
  
"This is great Kazuya!" said May while looking up at him. Behind her Ikaria was happily repeating the word great multiple times. Ranma also echoed May's statement, though he only did it once.  
  
Ranma couldn't help but enjoy just thinking about all the fun he could have if he could literally make friends like may and Ikaria. "Kazuya do you think you can show me how to make robots too?"  
  
Just looking Ranma in the eye right then made it impossible to say no, Ranma looked so happy right then. Unfortunately since Genma said he was leaving that day he couldn't very well teach him. Kazuya thought over his dilemma for a few moments before deciding on a good solution. Going to his closet he fished through some boxes before he found what he was looking for, a small collection of old books he had read when he had just started learning about electronics. He handed the books to Ranma "Here you go. These were what I used to learn about electronics. They should help you learn a lot for now, when you are done with these just go to a library and you'll find a lot more."  
  
Ranma looked at the books a bit unsure if they would help, but Kazuya had said they were what he had used. Ranma was sure he could do it. His face became more serious, like when he was determined to learn a new move or attack, he nodded and put the books and charger in his bag. He was positive he would master everything those books had in them, just like he would master Anything Goes.  
  
Then Ranma seemed to brighten somewhat and he smiled as he remembered he still had until his father returned to play with May and Ikaria. And until Genma did return he did just that. "Boy! Are you ready yet?" yelled Genma as he barged through the door. "Were leaving now so get your bag."  
  
Ranma's smile disappeared at the thought of having to leave already. He and May both gave Ikaria a good bye hug and they said goodbye to Kazuya. "I hope I see you again soon Kazuya. I'll be sure to have built a robot by the next time I see you!" Genma grabbed Ranma's bag and took the boys hand and stated to pull him from the room. Ranma grabbed May and was pulled from the room.  
  
"Goodbye Kazuya!" called May just before they disappeared out the door.  
  
Kazuya stood there surprised that they had left so fast. Genma hadn't even said goodbye. He went to the door to call a goodbye to him but he saw no sign of them anywhere. There wasn't a trace of them anywhere. Or at least that's what he thought; he didn't notice the sound of sirens drawing closer as he shut the door.  
  
-----  
  
Ranma looked over at May during his morning katas. For the last few days she had been practicing with him. She was very uncoordinated but she always tried her best and no matter how often she fell down she always got up and tried again. Ranma knew she would get better, how could you try so hard and not improve?  
  
Genma watched his son and the doll practice. It looked to have some skill, though not much, it was horribly clumsy but it seemed to know the pattern to Ranma's kata after only seeing it a few times. If only it wasn't completely inept chores. What kind of idiot makes a maid who is too small to actually do any chores? Maybe if he gave it a difficult enough training schedule it would become less clumsy and able to actually do something useful.  
  
For the remainder of the day Genma thought of the different training he needed to put the tiny robot through. He would certainly have to teach it to jump high so it could reach the top of pots when cooking, strength would need to improve as well, then she could carry ingredients or laundry, he would also have to improve her speed and precision so she could sew and just keep up as they traveled.  
  
For strength he could weigh her down, he had some fishing weights in his gear that would be about the right weight for her. For speed he would make her follow them on foot while they walked instead of running. For height of jumps he could place her in a hole and threaten to leave without her unless she got out. And for he could make her jump from one vine of fishing wire to another while he swatted her down with a stick. In those conditions she should improve to be the best maid she could be considering her size. She may even stand to learn some martial arts skills if she passed those tests.  
  
Then Genma smiled gleefully as he thought of something that he wouldn't have been inspired to do until he discovered the neko-ken a few years later, the best way to improve Ranma was challenge him until he had to become better just to survive. He could do the same things as he planed for May but on a grander scale. He could tie weights to the boy, there seemed to be boulders of acceptable size in the general area. He could become faster if he was chased, maybe tie stakes to him and have him chased by wolves or send a bear after him in the jungle and force him to leap from branch to branch. He could also find a deep pit for jumping out of. Perhaps tie him to a tree and throw a hornet's nest at him. Better yet he seemed to love the doll; he could always include her in the challenges to increase his need to succeed.  
  
Ranma wondered why his father was laughing like a madman for what seemed to be no reason. He knew though that he didn't like the look being directed at himself and may.  
  
-----  
  
Ranma wearily sat down at a computer terminal. He put May on the table near the computer to allow her a look as well. Unfortunately there were no USB connectors on this library's computers. He and May were both happy to get a chance to sit and rest. He was also happy to find another place to plug in May's charger; the library had several open slots on the power strips that the computers used. They currently had no training gear on because they were in the city and had nowhere to train. Both were sore all over due to Genma's new insane training techniques, and so far he had only been using small animals and weights in their training.  
  
Ranma had finished his books from Kazuya, reading them every night before going to sleep. He pulled up the computers catalog of books and found all the ones on electronics it had listed. He wearily picked May back up and searched for his choice reading material. After gathering an armful he sat at a table and started to read them. It was early morning so he had some time. Genma had disappeared somewhere once they reached the city and left them to do what they wanted after telling them they wouldn't need their gear any more.  
  
By nightfall Ranma had read several of the books, he didn't know what everything in them meant but he would have time during his katas to remember what they said and try to figure it all out better. Ranma carried May and her re-charger back to the campsite they had made just outside the city. When he got there he noticed Genma was sitting near the campfire. He was smiling mischievously and near his feet there were two sets of clothing. One which was Ranma's size in the same style and colors he always wore but they were completely flat against the soft ground, they actually seemed to be slightly pressing down into it, they were also thicker than his current clothes were. On top of the outfit there were metal arm and leg bracers. The other outfit matched Ranma's but was much smaller and was somewhat more curved of a design.  
  
-----  
  
Ranma heaved a sigh of relief which was echoed by May as she sat down next to where he had just plopped to the earth. He couldn't help but wonder at the resourcefulness of his old man and the stupidity of some people. Who would have guessed that Genma would be able to find weighted clothing heavier than armor but with no actual protection? He also couldn't help but ask himself who would make such a thing, and in doll sizes too. He was sure that the kami must have had something against him.  
  
Funny thing was though that all of Genma's training had been paying off, he and May were a lot tougher all around. He didn't care about that right now though he was just happy to have a break. After all the training he had done lately all he wanted to do was lie there. He had already checked the library but every book there he had read at other locations. He had plugged in the charger and read about martial arts instead, the only things he found though that he didn't know were about a thing called chi, none of them told him how to use chi though just what it could do so they weren't very helpful.  
  
He had returned for the night with the fully charged power supply and was only waiting for Genma to return. They fell asleep waiting for him to return. When they woke the next morning it was also to find him absent with a message carved in the dirt nearby. "Gone all day. -Genma"  
  
Ranma was amazed, as was May. He hadn't had two days off in a row since he left Ukyo; May was more surprised as she had never had two days in a row off. Nether of them knew what to do. Ranma had nothing to read and he didn't feel like practice on his day off, he couldn't build anything because may had told him he was stealing when he took things from stores and that it was bad, he of course had no money to buy parts ether. That day they actually got a chance to really do since they left Ikaria, play and just play, not play and practice like Genma's idea to have them play keep the steak away from "Mr. Ill-tempered wolverine".  
  
The next morning when they rose from their sleeping bag they found Genma sitting at the campfire's ashes smiling happily. Ranma groaned, it was probably heavier armor. If there was one thing he didn't want right now it was heavier armor, he would even be willing to play hide the steak from Mr. Wolverine again if it meant no new armor.  
  
"I learned of a new training for you boy, this one will make you a master of the art for sure." Said Genma. "Come here I just have to tie you and May up with this." He said pointing to a box of fish sausage at his feet. "You won't have to do a thing; you don't even need your armor for this." Ranma was a bit suspicious, after all this sounded a lot like the speech about how sharks were just big fish and there was no reason to be afraid of fish so its ok if I tie this boulder onto your back and throw you into the ocean with them speech. He sighed and walked forward as did May, at least it wasn't new armor.  
  
Genma tied his son in the fish sausage and simply tied one to May and tied up her hands and feet. Then he opened up a wooden cover over a pit near where Genma had been sitting that Ranma hadn't noticed before. Genma picked up the child and his doll and tossed them into the pit. He grabbed a nearby bottle of sake and sat down against a nearby wall. A few moments later he heard the sounds of the first cats awakening. Ranma tried to sooth the starving cats and taking them out of any stupid moves when he saw the first one wake up, but his voice simply told the others that dinner was served.  
  
Genma listened to the screams of his child and maid as he drank his sake. Once the screams became soft he decided it was best to retrieve them. He pulled up the rope which held a crying and weakly screaming Ranma at the other end. Genma set the boy down and untied him then reached for the rope attached to May, then he remembered one part of the preparations he had forgotten. Genma listened to the screams of the doll in the pit and simply stated "Oops! I'll have to remember her rope next time."  
  
Ranma's eyes snapped up at this. There were no other ropes around and may was still screaming. That meant there was no way to stop the cats until they had… until they had eaten her! He jumped onto his feet and charged back into the pit ignoring the fact it was full of the monsters that had mauled him, fully intent on saving May. When jumping into the hole he tipped the box of sausages over and shortly after he landed they followed behind him. The screams of Ranma were renewed and May's intensified as the pack of starved felines jumped on the newly arrived feast, and anything that happened to be in their way.  
  
Under a dog pile of cats Ranma was solely focused on the screams of his friend. The pain became unbearable as claws dug into every inch of his flesh. Still he fought his way to his friend. He passed out under the mountain of claws and fur.  
  
Genma nervously paced around the pit. It had gone silent down there excluding the sounds of cats devouring their dinners. Genma had no way to retrieve the boy currently, the rope was gone and he was far too cowardly to help his son after seeing what those cats could do. Genma watched the pit as he paced.  
  
There was a movement in the pile of cats, some of them were for no obvious reason thrown back, and where they had been standing was May, crouched on all fours like a cat. She hissed at the larger pile of cats which contained Ranma and started to claw towards them threateningly. Most of the cats did not respond to the threat which seemed to be hollow, however form the bottom of the stack one responded. "MEOW!" suddenly the pile of cats was thrown in all directions as Ranma in the same stance as May stood up.  
  
Ranma walked to may on all fours and nuzzled her purring, he then picked her up in his mouth and leapt out of the hole with her. He carried her to the foot of a nearby tree in the opposite direction of May and set her down in front of him. He lay down next to her and began to clean her wounds for her as if she was his kitten. When Genma tried to approach he was stopped by a deadly gaze from Ranma warning him away, he was stupid but even he couldn't shrug off the look of murder he had in his eyes. Slowly as Ranma watched over her May fell asleep. Soon after which Ranma curled up around her and also fell asleep.  
  
Carefully Genma watched from the distance as the two fell asleep. After he heard Ranma had stopped purring he gathered up what little courage he had, and a big stick, and set about waking his son up.  
  
-----  
  
"Ranma! I can't believe you did that!" scolded May from Ranma's bag as he landed back on the ground. "You go apologize to that poor boy and give him that bread!"  
  
Ranma took the bread out of his mouth and took up the defensive. "I didn't do anything wrong I got the curry bread fair and square!"  
  
"Ranma you jumped off his head to get it! Did you forget how heavy your armor is? You could have broken his neck!" Ranma looked over his shoulder at the boy currently imbedded into the floor. Ranma looked somewhat nervous, he had forgotten the armor, it seemed there was a limit to how heavy it could be made before it became too constricting of its wearers movements so Genma had been forced to let them wear the same outfits long enough for them to get used to the weight. It seemed the kami didn't hate him after all. They certainly didn't like the boy he had just jumped on though. "You better take him to the nurse Ranma."  
  
Ranma picked up his fallen classmate and carried him to the nurse's office. The nurse checked him for injuries. "Don't worry. Your friend is going to be fine, he just has some bruises. How did he get them all?"  
  
"I err... um... sort... accidentally knocked him over getting lunch." Ranma said shamefully, he couldn't believe he had hurt someone weaker than him for no reason. "By the way could you give him this curry bread when he wakes up? He didn't get any lunch."  
  
"Don't worry I'll be sure to give it to him. Now head back to class lunch is just about over." She said as she shooed him out the door so she could care for her patient.  
  
-----  
  
Three days later back in the cafeteria Ryoga was Watching the crowd rushed for where the meals were served. After a few moments the lunch lady held up a boxed of sandwich and yelled over the sound of the crowd "LAST CUTLET SANDWICH OF THE DAY" then threw the lunch over the heads of the waiting students. One student near the back of the crowd leapt over the others and snagged the sandwich from the air and landed on the other side of the throng of students. That was the one Ryoga had been looking for.  
  
Three days he had searched to find his way back from the nurse's office. Three days he had trekked throughout Japan. Now he would finally be able to face his foe. He followed the other boy and made sure he was in sight and couldn't be lost until he had chosen a spot by a tree on the grounds to eat at. Ryoga stood back for a few moments, just to be sure his adversary wasn't going to run away like the coward he was, and then approached.   
  
"You! I Ryoga Hibiki challenge you to a duel of honor." He said when he was standing right in front of Ranma. He had taken up a fighting stance and had unhooked the bamboo umbrella he had carried with him for this from his bag.  
  
Ranma looked up at the boy and smiled. "Sure Ryoga, I'd be happy to fight ya. Sorry about jumping on your head the other day. Just give me a second to eat this." He said pointing at the lunch, which a second later was gone except for a small corner which he flicked into his backpack. May didn't need to eat but she always loved the taste of food that Genma didn't take from her.  
  
Ryoga watched as Ranma seemingly mad the sandwich disappear in a blur of speed before standing up. "OK Ryoga I Ranma Saotome accept your challenge. Anytime you're ready." Ranma stated as he slipped into a very relaxed defensive stance. Ryoga angered by his opponent's apparent lack of caring about their battle and the insult of being beaten on accident charged with his umbrella. He had expected Ranma to dodge but instead Ranma took the attack full force. Ranma flew back a few feet before rising to his feet. He smiled a little "Well, looks like you've got some power, now I see how you were only knocked out by my kick."  
  
By this time a crowd of boys had gathered around their fight to watch. Ranma noting this decided he should concentrate or strength in this fight, speed would just get someone else hurt. Ryoga charged swung at him with his umbrella which was easily blocked and countered with a punch to the chest which sent Ryoga flying backwards stopping shortly before the edge of the ring, which scooted back so the fight could continue.  
  
Ranma walked up to Ryoga and reached him just as he got back into his defensive stance. Ranma punched straight into his attempt to block and knocked him down again. Ryoga was furious and a little afraid he had never heard of anyone being this strong before, he knew the other boy must be cheating. The coward. "How are you doing that? Nobody is that strong. You had better stop cheating; this is a duel of honor!"   
  
"HEY! I don't cheat!" then he dropped his stance and went over to his bag. Careful to make sure nobody saw May he pulled out his armor. He had stopped wearing it after the fist day so nobody would get hurt by him on accident. He walked over and set the clothing down by Ryoga's feet. "I have no way to cheat; I just wear that while I train! Try picking them up."  
  
Ryoga bent down to pick up the clothing "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! How could….how…. how the hell are these so heavy?!" asked the boy while still trying unsuccessfully to even lift the clothes from the ground.  
  
"See Ranma Saotome never cheats!" he said as he picked his clothing back up with ease and put it back into his bag. Now lets get back to our fight." He said smiling as he set the armor inside the bag and took up his stance once again. Ryoga looked at him nervously, was he kidding? "Whenever you're ready." Damn! He was serious.  
  
-----  
  
Ranma looked down at the landscape stretching out in front of him. It was dotted with hundreds of small springs with bamboo shoots sticking up from in and around them. Off to the side there was a small wooden shack but nothing else broke the continuous expanse of pools before them. With all the bamboo cut to have flat tops of nearly the same height he could easily identify this as a training ground for martial arts. Legendary however didn't make sense to him at all; it was one of the plainest looking battlegrounds Genma had brought him to since they came to china. Up on his shoulder may was thinking the same thing. She began to wonder if they should have hired a guide instead of just finding the directions online then maybe he could tell them what was so great about this place.  
  
Genma hopped onto a nearby bamboo pole. "Well boy get up here!" yelled the bald old man. Ranma dropped his pack which crashed to the ground loudly. The stupid old man had found another way to increase the weight he carried, a large backpack of armor could easily help in his training while they traveled. Fortunately though the backpacks could only hold a few outfits, the bag might have been big but it was only designed to carry so much weight. Before its straps ripped or the bottom broke out. currently he had the strongest backpack around that held two full sets of armor, regular clothing, and May's power supply. May carried her own spare armor in a bag identical to Ranma's but on a smaller scale. May jumped down to the ground and also dropped off her bag.  
  
Both Ranma and May jumped onto nearby bamboo poles. Ranma took up a one legged stance like his father while may had room to place both feet on the pole easily. Genma leapt first, he headed towards May, intending to knock her out of the way so they could start the real battle. May avoided his leap by gracefully bouncing off of his head and onto another pole. Genma grumbled something under his breath and set off after her. Ranma simply stood there and watched as he tried to catch the small and speedy may unsuccessfully for several minutes. May didn't ever do much damage but it was always fun to watch her lead the old man around in circles.  
  
Ranma's fun was ended abruptly when Genma twisted in the air and caught May by surprise in the middle of one of her leaps. His foot connected with her and sent her flying with a scream of pain into one of the pools. Ranma, angry at his father's mistreatment of his friend, sprang right for him. "You stupid old man! I've told you before to take it easy on may!" he yelled while firmly planting his foot into his fathers gut then pushing him into the pool behind him and taking his place on the pole. "Heh. Maybe you should have used your own training methods pop. That was way too easy."  
  
Behind him Ranma heard the sounds of water splashing but waited to see what it was incase Genma was hoping to take him off guard. Thinking that Genma was just waiting for him to be distracted he turned his head a little and pretended to look, as if on cue a shape jumped out of the water onto the pole behind it. Then it jumped at him, about halfway to Ranma however Ranma noticed it wasn't his father, all he saw was a huge panda trying to kill him. In exactly the way one would expect someone trained against mad animals would expect, he punched it as hard as he could and sent it flying to land out cold on the ground between some of the distant pools. He couldn't believe it dragged all the way to china and why to fight at a place with killer underwater pandas who couldn't even take a hit. Then he remembered may had fallen into a pool behind him and the splashing sounds, she definitely couldn't take out a panda.  
  
When Ranma reached the pool where he had thought she had fallen in he instead found a girl halfway out of the water unconscious. She had her face down cradled in her arms and covered by brown hair that went down to the middle of her back. Ranma reached down and felt her pulse, it was weak but she wasn't in danger of dieing yet. He lifted her out of the pool and flipped her over to listen for her breathing. "MAY!" he yipped in surprise when he saw the face of the girl. he leaned closer to the girl to make sure it was her, he tilted his head looking at her from every angle he could, there was no doubt about it, this was May! Then Ranma remembered what he had been doing and checked her breathing, which was steady. Then he realized the odd fact that may was breathing.   
  
Deciding he should get her away from the killer animals that he now knew rested in the springs before they were attacked, he carried her to the small cabin he had seen earlier as quickly as he could, only making a fast stop for their bags so she could wear his extra clothing. At the hut Ranma simply walked in expecting it to be abandoned. Inside he found a man sitting at a table in the corner eating a bowl of soup. The rest of the room was scarcely furnished with a wooden dresser and an old wooden bed in the corner. "I sorry sir but I eating now. Come back for tour later." Said the fat man at the table.   
  
"I don't want a tour!" Ranma yelled at the guide. "My friend just fell into one of those pools and I wanted to get her back here and safe before anything attacked her."  
  
"Oh your friend fall in spring, that very bad. These springs cursed. When person fall in they take the body of creature that last drown their. Look like your friend fell in spring of drowned girl. Poor sir, he will not like much. Good it is reversible with hot water, cold triggers it again though."   
  
Ranma let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. When he thought may had been cursed he had almost left to find and skin Genma, only wanting to know if she was ok made him stay. He was glad he had, he could actually thank Genma for this, now may was able to do anything a human could but that a doll sized robot couldn't. Maybe now he could even train with her seriously. Hah, Genma's stupid ideas had finally paid off! Genma! He had totally forgotten his old man! If the springs could change people than pops must have become the panda who attacked him. He should probably go find him before anyone else discovered him. "I'll be right back. Could you get some water ready? I think my pop will need it."  
  
The panda had been right where Ranma had left him. Ranma picked up the creature and headed home, he silently cursed the fact he didn't bring any hot water with him, the stupid panda was big. When he arrived back at the hut he nearly scared the guide witless by shoving his father through the door before he entered. "Oh sir it just you. No do that again, almost make very tragic legend of Jusenkyo guide who die of heart attack!"  
  
"Sorry. Do you have that water ready? This room is way too small for a panda." Said Ranma as he crept around the bulk that was his father to be at the side of the bed near May. The guide dumped some water from the kettle onto Genma then some cold water, then hot again. Ranma sat in rapt attention to the transformation from panda to man to panda and back to man. Genma slept through the transformations without so much as twitching. Ranma was amazed to see the curse; he had never seen magic before so it was a very interesting sight.   
  
"See sir, is very simple no? Cold water trigger and hot reverse."  
  
On the bed may started to move a little so Ranma turned her attention back to her. The guide came up with the kettle but Ranma took it out of his hands and placed it on the ground before he could use it.  
  
May slowly woke due to the sound of water splashing and a voice she didn't recognize. The first thing she saw was Ranma's face hovering high over her. No not high he was right above her, but he was so... so... small. Realizing the most logical solution she grabbed Ranma to her. "Master Ranma! You shrunk!" she yelled as she tightly gripped him. Far too tightly for Ranma's liking, if he didn't know any better he would have thought she was trying to kill him.  
  
"May... stop... you're gonna... kill me!" he managed to say despite having most of his breath driven out from the sudden hug. May quickly released her hug not knowing how she had been able to hurt him, generally that wouldn't have been enough to make him say "ouch". Ranma took a minute to gasp back the air that had so quickly fled from his lungs. Ranma then explained what had happened. "I didn't shrink May, you grew! That pool pop kicked you into made you into a girl with cold water; hot water will turn you back to normal. Isn't that great? Now we can even fight for real." May looked around the room and saw he was right, it was a normal room and Genma and the strange man were both much smaller than she had expected. Finally she could do all the things she couldn't before because of her size. Not knowing what to say she simply hugged Ranma again, not as hard as she had before, this time Ranma only slightly winced as she closed her arms around him.  
  
-----  
  
"Oh sirs you in luck! This village of amazons!" said the guide as he led two teens and a panda into the aforementioned village. All were still damp from a recent shower of rain during their trek. "This village women very strong! They show their skill now!" in the center of the village a large crowd had gathered, all were women, many with injuries or broken weaponry around them as a silent testament that they had taken part in the tournament. None of the crowd seemed to notice them. In fact only one shriveled old woman in the crowd did.  
  
The old woman watched as the outsiders moved in to watch the fight occurring on a suspended log in the middle of the crowd. She made a note that next time they would have to post guards; the strangers had actually set themselves down at the grand prize and were eating the feast set for the winner while they watched the battle. At least they promised some amusement she didn't bother wasting her time checking the males chi levels but the woman had an unusually high amount of chi, also both of the youths moved with the grace of martial artists, strangely enough the panda did as well.  
  
Ranma watched, and ate, as a cute purple haired girl with weapons that resembled beach balls on sticks fought against a woman; at least he guessed it was a woman, who was attacking with a combination weapon of a spiked mace and a spear. The purple haired girl was easily winning blocking everything that the other woman could send at her without seeming to try. Then with a single vicious slam to the face the small girl sent the huge woman flying off of the log and, from Ranma's point of view, most likely out of the village. Maybe he could challenge her, off of the log of course, her strength was weak and while her speed was decent it meant nothing on that log. Hmm and maybe they would give him a prize if he won, all the other tournaments Genma had made him enter had prize money for the victor. He was brought back from his thoughts to the real world by the sudden attack on the table in front of them from the purple haired girl. The girl's weapon, a bonbori, then smashed into his bag beside the table which began to make funny noises and shoot a few sparks at her. The girl then began to yell at them in Chinese, just insulting her by eating her meal hadn't been enough even their luggage had insulted her.  
  
"OH! This very bad ma'am she say she challenge you for stealing her prize." The guide translated for May. "Please no except, if you lose she may kill you for being thief, if you win she kill you for honor. No Amazon let other woman win and live."  
  
May was about to ask how the girl would kill her if she couldn't even beat her but instead Ranma cut her off and by standing up and telling the guide "Tell her I'll accept her challenge. Then there's no problem, after all I ain't a girl and I ain't gonna lose."  
  
The guide shrugged and guessed he knew what he was doing so he translated for him. As soon as he finished the girl started yelling at him as if he had insulted her. "She says she no fight weak male sir."  
  
"WEAK! I'll show her weak!" Ranma threw off his bag, shirt and arm bracers. He started over toward the tournament log. When he reached one end of the log he grabbed it and lifted it over his head and then tilted it until the chains holding the other end ripped the support columns out of the ground to have them dangle from the top of a now completely vertical log. He dropped the log back down onto the ground it had hung over before with a grunt and wiped the sweat from his brow. "Ask her if I'm still too weak to fight now." said Ranma cockily to the guide who was currently bug eyed, a state shared by most there, due to Ranma's incredible feat of strength.  
  
The guide shakily asked the girl his question and before she could reply the shriveled old woman who had noticed their arrival whacked her on the head with her cane, to stop her from saying that lifting the log proved nothing, she then hopped up onto the top of her cane, which was about twice as tall as she was at about four feet in height, and responded to his challenge for her in perfect Japanese. "Shampoo will accept your challenge. As the log is no longer in shape to fight on you will fight anywhere in the limits of the village until one of you can no longer fight or is ejected from the fighting area." She then repeated her statement in Chinese for the amazons.  
  
Both Ranma and shampoo took up battle stances and waited. Cologne signaled them to begin by waving her arm downward. Hoping to knock her opponent out before she got hit shampoo charged in immediately but found her lunge to his head blocked. Quickly she jumped and spun over his head using her bonbori as a pivot, underneath her Ranma's legs slipped by to trip her but found nothing. Behind him shampoo turned to attack his back while he kicked where he had been but he rolled forwards and shot his legs out behind him, catching her in the chin as her weapon struck the dirt and sending her flying backwards in a high arc before she smashed into a hut and caused it to collapse.  
  
Ranma getting up from the ground went to the hut to check on the girl, unlike most of the people present he knew she definitely wasn't getting up from that hit. When he reached the hut he checked her condition and found her to be alive, he might have broken her jaw and her back was probably sore from the landing but she would be fine. He picked her up and set her down outside the wreckage of the hut. He returned to the ruins of the table that they had eaten at and put back on his shirt and bracers.   
  
About that time he noticed every woman in attendance was watching him. He didn't like the look they were giving him; from what he remembered of the neko-ken they all seemed to have the look of a hungry cat who wanted his sausage. Motioning for May to grab the guide Ranma grabbed his bag and his father and took off as fast as he could with May carrying the guide right behind him. After seeing Ranma flee all the single girls in the village charged after their retreating forms.  
  
-----  
  
Ranma looked up at the building in front of him. The sign read "Tendo Dojo." Near it there hung another sign stating "To defeat the owner in savage combat please use rear door." Ranma looked at his pop, who was currently a panda "I don't see why we had to come all the way here just to fight another stupid dojo. You're really beginning to bore me with your idea of training old man."  
  
TO BE CONTINUED…  
  
AN: well this is my third attempt to make an interesting Ranma story. I probably should have written more of the other two first but oh well inspiration struck. I just couldn't get the desire to add maid may to Ranma to go away, also I love divergences where only a small, reasonable change occurs, and I think this fits into that category pretty well. I would love any C&C to Jester_of_doom@hotmail.com.   
  
Oh, and also several things I wanted to go over: if anyone thinks Kasumi was out of character I just have to say that without May and the others there I don't think she was hiding her feelings toward Kazuya as much. It's my own personal opinion that Ryoga is fixated on stuff not stupid or outright crazy. And due to the training, which I made occur with weighted armor and fighting animals because it worked so well in Dragon Ball, Ranma is a lot stronger than even Ryoga started as but is about the same speed while May is a good deal faster than Ranma's girl form was and a bit stronger than his male form. 


	2. Engagement?

RanMay 1/2  
  
Part 2. Engagement!?  
  
By the Jester of Doom  
  
Disclaimer: all characters belong to other people; only the stories have been changed to protect the innocent.  
  
Ranma looked up at the building in front of him. The sign read [Tendo Dojo.] Near it there hung another sign stating [To defeat the owner in savage combat please use rear door.] Ranma looked at his pop, who was currently a panda "I don't see why we had to come all the way here just to fight another stupid dojo. You're really beginning to bore me with your idea of training old man."  
  
"Yes Mr. Saotome there seems to be nothing special about this dojo. Besides we have already told you that we wouldn't defeat dojos so you can charge them to keep their sign anymore." Said the girl next to him to the soggy panda who was standing on his other side.  
  
The panda held up a sign [Both of you be quite!] then he flipped the sign to reveal a new message [We're not here to challenge them. Tendo is an old friend.] He flipped the sign back to the first side which now held a new message [Get moving boy! They're waiting.] Then the panda moved behind his two students and pushed them towards the door. When he got them there he rang the bell and stood behind Ranma, blocking his only route of escape.  
  
Inside the house Soun Tendo practically jumped over the table to go welcome his old friend, and to get away from his daughters who were taking the news of their engagement quite badly. Why should they be mad that he had engaged one of them to a boy they had never even met? He had only done it to secure the future of the Anything Goes School. Couldn't they appreciate that?  
  
He opened the door and stopped, losing the smile which had just plastered itself on his face at the sound of the doorbell. "Hi I'm Ranma Saotome and…" Ranma was surprised as he was suddenly cut off when the owner of the house suddenly grabbed him in a bear hug. Behind him his daughter was giving him an appraising eye. He was cute, she would give him that, but he was probably the average stupid jock. Still there was possibility here. Still back at the table were Akane and Kasumi who hadn't sprinted to the door.  
  
Soun ushered the boy to the table, forgetting his companions. "WAAHH! I'm so happy. Now the future of the Anything Goes School will be guaranteed! WAAHH!" He then proceeded to usher his soon-to-be son-in-law down the hall still crushed against him in one arm. Then he placed him down at the table and made sure his daughters were all gathered. His other guests were forgotten by himself and Nabiki due to his rushing.  
  
After Mr. Tendo had placed his daughters and Ranma at the appropriate places around the table and making sure he took off his pack so he was comfortable he turned to the completely confused boy. "Well Ranma my boy these are my daughters, Kasumi age 19, Nabiki age 17, and Akane age 16. Pick the one you want to be your fiancée." He gestured to each girl in turn, from the kind looking one to the somewhat interested one to the one who was making a point of not looking at him except the occasional evil glare.  
  
"BE MY FIANCEE! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!" yelled Ranma who had panicked and jumped back from the table but was knocked out by a hit on the head with a sign by Genma who had been waiting for him to try something like running.  
  
Soun turned to the panda who had just clobbered his son-in-law. He was quite surprised when the panda pulled up the sign he had just attacked with to show what it said. [Soun my friend. It's me, Genma!] Then he flipped it to show another message [Get me some hot water and we can talk.] Soun was a little startled to see the panda communicating with signs and new it couldn't be his old friend but Kasumi had already gone to get hot water for their guest anyway.  
  
Across the table Akane finally became aware of May who had simply been watching what happened in a confused state but was now checking Ranma to make sure he was ok. "You practice martial arts right?" asked Akane.  
  
"Yes I practice Anything Goes martial arts" said May looking up from Ranma who was perfectly fine; he had just been caught off guard by the blow.  
  
"Well then why don't you forget about him and we go spar?" hoping to get her mind off the weakling who her father wanted to engage her to. The pervert couldn't even take a weak hit to the head like that. She smiled a little at that, she would be sure his head met her fist if he tried anything funny with her.  
  
"OK, it would be nice to get to fight somebody new for a change." May agreed and was led out to the dojo by Akane. So far in her new body she had only fought Ranma seriously, maybe she would hold up to a real fight though. Nobody else in the house was paying enough attention to ether of them to notice due to their other guests.  
  
Kasumi returned shortly and gave the panda a kettle of hot water which he upended onto himself. Everyone there, save the unconscious Ranma, gasped as the panda transformed into the bald old martial artist. "Genma! So it is you!" said a surprised Soun happily "but since when have you been a panda?"  
  
"It's a long story my friend. You see not long ago the boy, the girl, and I went to train at Jusenkyo. While we were…"  
  
"Who is the girl you mentioned?"  
  
"Oh, I mean May, my other student. She was here a moment ago. Where has that foolish girl have gone to now?"  
  
As if in response to Genma's question there was a loud crash from the dojo and a loud scream of pain. Everyone but Ranma hurried out of the room to see what was going on. In the dojo they found May kneeling next to and apologizing profusely to Akane who was lying out cold in a pile of rubble that had once been the dojo's far wall.  
  
Soun burst into tears at the sight of his hurt daughter and rushed to pick her up. He held her in his arms and started towards the house with her. He looked at May with fire in his eyes. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY AKANE!" he yelled while manifesting a demon head, which only succeeded in scaring May witless.  
  
At hearing Mays squeals of fear Ranma immediately roused himself. Seeing that he was awake May ran to him for help. "WAAHH! Master Ranma tell them I didn't mean it! She said she could take whatever I could dish out! Tell them I didn't try to hurt her! WAAHH!"  
  
It only took Ranma a second to understand what she meant; she didn't know how to pull her punches well yet and must have fought with someone else. Ranma turned to Mr. Tendo and was a bit taken aback when he saw his demon head attack but because it wasn't directed at him he shrugged it off easily. "Mister Tendo please calm down, she didn't try to hurt anybody. She doesn't know how to pull her punches very well yet. Please just calm down I'm sure your daughter will be fine." Quietly he asked May "Did you break anything?" she shook her head frantically in response. Speaking loudly again he said "I'm sure that she will just be sore for awhile."  
  
Soun's demon head attack deflated due to Ranma's urging that everything was fine, leaving him to simply cry over his hurt daughter who he had laid on their couch, thoroughly drench her gi. Genma cleared his throat and whispered something in Soun's ear. Soun stifled his crying and cleared his throat, while Genma slipped behind Ranma again. He would be able to stop his tears for now; this was for the sale of their schools after all. Soun turned to Ranma "Well son with Akane injured it seems you have to choose between Kasumi and Nabiki."  
  
"I don't like younger men father." said Kasumi very seriously and in a way she hoped wouldn't offend the boy.  
  
"I think he would be much better with Akane daddy, this is to continue the dojo after all." stated Nabiki, she didn't mind Ranma yet so much as she was hoping for a husband with a much higher salary and, judging by the fact he was a traveling martial artist, a higher IQ.  
  
At hearing Nabiki's comment Soun started bawling again "WAAHH! MY POOR DIEING BABY GIRL!"  
  
"Very well it's settled then! Ranma your new fiancée is Nabiki!" said Genma while grabbing his shoulders from behind to both congratulate him and hold him there.  
  
"WHAT! I don't want a fiancée! Don't you have anything to say to all of this?" Ranma demanded of Nabiki.  
  
Nabiki was taking it like the ice-queen she was known to be, no angry outbursts or any show of surprise. She already knew Ranma would be happy to help her break it off later, he didn't even want to be engaged, and until then she had a boy to con sweets and flowers from. Besides at the very least this was a possible necessity, with her current popularity and far reaching notoriety arranged marriage looked like her only option; knowing her father all other possible marriage arrangements would be martial artists anyway, at least this one was cute and she would get the dojo. If he was any good at teaching it could provide decent profit. If she decided to keep him that is.  
  
"Yeah. You should really just relax for now, daddy wouldn't hear you if you screamed in his face at the moment. Why don't you just give it awhile and if it's so horrible than we'll at least have a reason for them to listen to us. There not going to stop just because you don't want to. Daddy says they planed this a long time ago as a thing of honor."  
  
Ranma wanted to argue but could find any holes in her reasoning. It wasn't fair but he knew his dad wasn't going to let him get out of this very easy. The best he could do was go along with it like she said. "Ok then well see how it goes. But I don't want no pressure to hurry up and get married got it, this isn't final!" Genma of course ignored him having zoned out after ok, he was currently imagining his life in the lap of luxury courtesy of his son.  
  
"Now why don't we calm down my daddy then you can continue telling us how you got that curse Mr. Saotome" suggested Nabiki. It took them nearly a half-hour to convince Soun that Akane was ok and make him stop his wailing, well stop him from crying hard enough to be in danger of dehydration anyway. Then Genma told them of how he became cursed, or at least a somewhat edited tale.  
  
"You see I took May and Ranma to the springs of Jusenkyo, the legendary training ground. During a brisk sparring match May and myself were knocked into the cursed pools. When I'm splashed with cold water I become a panda and hot water returns me. May however fell into a spring which cursed her to become a small robotic version of herself when splashed with hot water but returns with cold water." He said, trying to make the story seem at least a small bit believable; so far everyone who had seen May change had insisted she had to have been human in the first place, besides it would save face to say he had taught the girl to be a strong martial artist instead of saying he taught a doll to be able to beat him up.  
  
"What are you talking about pops May was a robot in the first place."  
  
"Is there something wrong with your boy Saotome?" asked Soun who was much more inclined to believe his old comrade than his son.  
  
"Ah…yes…um" Genma fidgeted for a moment as he tried to think of an excuse. "Well you see that is the true horror of her curse; hers changed her mentally and made her believe that she had been a robot cursed to be human and since Ranma was the first person she saw it affected him making him think that she was his toy robot originally as well. I am truly lucky that mine only changed my body."  
  
"The legendary training ground of accused springs, its true horror had been shrouded in mystery until now! Truly the path of a true martial artist is fraught with peril." Soun said while tears dripped down his cheeks.  
  
Slightly worried Nabiki asked the most important question that came to mind while hearing the story. "You didn't fall into any of the pools did you Ranma?" she shivered as she thought she might be engaged to a person who was cursed to become some creature or *shudder* another girl.  
  
"Ha, like the fat old panda could ever knock me into one of them. It took him five minutes to even hit May once; he wouldn't have a chance against me." Ranma boasted, he always loved rubbing the fact May can lead him in circles even in her natural form.   
  
Nabiki couldn't help but let off a little sigh of relief. As Genma protested "Show your sensei respect boy, I taught you everything you know. You could never hope to be better than me, I still have more skill in the art, you simply have my training to thank for your abilities."  
  
"Well we'll never know if you're better then pops, seeing as how you were too much of a coward to train with us. Besides I learned a lot of what I know from fighting other people."  
  
"Damn you boy you will learn some respect!" Genma was about to leap at his ungrateful son when he found himself held seated by May.  
  
"Ranma! Mr. Saotome! We are guests here. If you want to fight go outside." May scolded sternly, receiving a grumble from Genma and an embarrassed look from Ranma.  
  
"Sorry May I forgot. Let's go old man." Ranma stood up and walked out to the backyard. Then May allowed Genma up and he followed his son. They were soon followed by Soun and Nabiki while Kasumi went off to start a bath for May, after sparring with Akane she would probably want one, besides she would rather not watch their silly little fight. Ranma took up a stance on the left side of the koi pond in the yard while Genma was on the opposite side. Both leapt at the same time and flew at each other in the air.  
  
It was pathetically easy for Ranma to drop his father, Genma had leapt forward with his leg outstretched to hit him in the gut, Ranma simply grabbed the leg in one hand and delivered a quick and powerful rap with his heel on Genma's head that sent him into the pond. Ranma landed on the right side and chided his father. "That was too easy old man; you really need to have a reason to brag ya know."  
  
Nabiki was shocked. She would have bet her entire life savings a moment ago people couldn't jump like that. If she was taking over the dojo and Ranma could train people to do that she would be rich! She would definitely have to find out what he was capable of later. Soun wasn't surprised in the least and simply watched the battle while crying slightly in joy. She would have to ask her father just what his limits were too.  
  
Behind Ranma the water exploded upwards as a panda hopped out directly towards his back. Ranma tuned and grabbed the outstretched paw of the panda then spun and released it, in effect hurtling Genma across the yard. Genma hit the ground and rolled a little until he hit the wall that surrounded the yard. "You need to know when to give up pops. That hasn't worked yet why would it now?"  
  
The panda got back up and shook its head to clear it. [This isn't over by a long shot boy.] The panda signed. Then he charged at the boy swinging with the sign which strangely changed messages as he swung it. [You're an ungrateful disgrace][I am still your sensei and father][Show respect to your betters][Look someone's attacking May]. Ranma turned after reading the last one to check on May and found nothing. Genma's sign crashed down on his head and the handle snapped.  
  
Ranma turned back to his father with an angry gleam in his eye. Genma, noticing how ineffective his attack was, pulled out a new sign and a beach ball [I'm just a cute little panda].  
  
"Damn it old man I told you that's not funny!" Ranma yelled angrily.  
  
The panda held up a new sign in front of the other one. [It wasn't me,][I'm just a cute little panda.]   
  
Ranma kicked the ball making it and the panda holding it roll backwards. Ranma walked back to the others angry at his father's inability to know what's going too far to win. What if May was really in trouble and he just thought it was a trick? His thoughts were interrupted though by another bear hug by Soun. "With your skills the future of our school will be guaranteed! WAAHH!"  
  
"Father I think he needs to breathe." Stated Kasumi simply as she retuned from preparing the bath for May and seeing that Ranma was turning an interesting shade of purple. "May the bath is ready for you; you must be sweaty from your sparring."  
  
"Thank you, that was very nice of you." May politely thanked their hostess. It was so nice of Kasumi to think of her. She could use a hot bath to she had been on the road without one for far too long. "Ranma, where did you put the pack?"   
  
"Its still at the table May. That reminds me, if pops is making us stay here where are we going to stay?" Ranma asked Mr. Tendo.   
  
"That's no problem this is your home now, there is a room you and your father can share and I'm sure one of the girls wouldn't mind sharing their room with May." Answered the elder Tendo, who was still crying a little, a little for him that is, due to his joy.  
  
Kasumi, always one to care for their guests and her sisters, offered her own room for use, after all Nabiki had just received a new fiancée and she didn't want to give her any more to adjust to and Akane wasn't feeling well so she was the only one left to offer. "She can stay in my room father. If both of you will follow me I'll show you where your rooms and the bathroom are."  
  
-----  
  
"Ooohhh" groaned Akane as she opened her eyes to find herself on the couch. What happened? Memories of the day flowed back into her mind. Remembering what happened she began to worry about how long she had been out for. What if that boy had already picked her while she was asleep and she hadn't had a chance to argue about it. She really needed to talk to daddy about this. Then after she had ended this foolish business maybe she could train with May again, next time she wouldn't be caught by surprised like that. Noticing Kasumi nearby she decided to question her "Kasumi that boy didn't already choose a fiancée did he?"  
  
"Yes daddy made him choose right after bringing you in from the dojo." Kasumi said happily while she continued dusting.  
  
Akane, immediately expecting that she had been chosen, she was the most popular after all, immediately got a sinking feeling in her stomach. "Where is daddy, I can't let this happen."  
  
"He went out with Mr. Saotome to celebrate the future of the dojo. They said they won't be back until late tonight." Kasumi said as she continued dusting "you know you should really go take a bath Akane, you're covered in dust. May just started taking one but I'm sure she won't mind company." She sounded a bit worried that Akane was getting dust all over the clean room; there would probably be debris from the demolished wall in the couch now too.  
  
Akane looked down at herself and saw the dust and bits of wall on her gi. "Sure Kasumi, I guess I could use a bath. But tell me as soon as daddy gets home, ok?" She stood up and headed towards the bathroom. Maybe I could ask May if she wants to spar again while we bathe. She probably has some interesting techniques too. Akane walked into the changing room and started to disrobe maybe May had some good techniques I could use on the mob at school. She slid the door open and started in I bet she must know…  
  
What had caused the one-track freight train that is Akane's mind to suddenly derail was the sight that awaited her in the bathroom. Ranma and May, both naked, were about to get in the tub together, naked! It of course didn't take her long to come to the most logical, and her favorite, conclusion. ALL boys are PERVERTS! Which she quickly gave voice to "YOU PERVERT!" Akane yelled as she jumped at him suddenly wielding a mallet which hadn't been there a moment before.  
  
Ranma simply stood like a dear caught in the headlights of a speeding semi as Akane flew over the bath towards him. May was luckily able to notice Ranma's shock in time to move to intercept the attack before he was hit. Catching the top of the handle and holding it tightly she halted its motion an inch before it imprinted itself on Ranma's head.   
  
Akane was jolted to a stop as the mallet which was being driven with all her strength came to the unexpected halt. She was caught off guard as gravity suddenly reasserted itself and she lost her grip on her weapon and fell into the bath below her. She came up sputtering and turned to May, who was still holding the mallet where she had caught it. "Why are you protecting that PERVERT?!"  
  
Ranma was roused from his momentary shock at finding the mallet hovering in place before him by the insult. As May brought the hammer down from his face he responded. "Who are you calling a pervert?! You're the one who came in here without any warning!"   
  
"That doesn't mean anything! It's alright when a girl sees a guy naked!" upon saying this she realized she was looking right at him and quickly cast her gaze away, downward specifically, after which she realized she was naked at the moment. Quickly covering herself and sinking down in the water she checked and found Ranma looking right at her. "YOU PERVERT! QUIT STARING AT ME! GET OUT!"  
  
Ranma was confused but seeing Akane's obvious ire he decided it best to do as she asked for the moment. May followed Ranma now that their chance to bathe was gone, she was a bit unhappy about how unkindly Ranma was being treated, she couldn't see anything wrong with anything he had done since they had arrived other than arguing with his father, certainly that didn't warrant an attack on him. Akane watched them leave and almost went to try pounding him for being a pervert again but her current lack of clothing was enough to hold her back.   
  
As soon as they entered the changing room and closed the door to the bathroom, the door to the hall opened up. Kasumi and Nabiki had both heard Akane's war cry and had gone to investigate and had just opened the door to the changing room. "Oh my!" Kasumi said as the naked pair were revealed. Nabiki upon seeing May was armed with a mallet quickly shut the door to avoid the watching the carnage she thought would follow, of course she also checked her fiancée's…assets before the door had closed.   
  
After a moment of nervousness at the violence that was about to happen, and another good reason, Nabiki was dumbstruck when the door opened and both May and Ranma, fully clothed and fully conscious, both exited the changing room. May had left the mallet behind next to a neat pile of clothes that were Akane's. Nabiki, true to her form, quickly recovered and hid her surprise. "Care to explain?"  
  
Ranma and May both looked at her in surprise; they had been too focused on wondering what Akane's problem was to have noticed the other sisters. "Huh?" Ranma asked intelligently. "Oh, your sister just walked in on our bath, called us perverts, attacked, and told us to get out. Any idea what she's so mad about?"  
  
"And you were bathing together WHY?!" Demanded Nabiki.  
  
That seemed like a stupid question to Ranma. "The tub is a deep pit of hot water with slick sides and I already told ya that this is May's cursed form. If she got in there alone she'd be stuck. She might be water proof but she can still overheat."  
  
"We still haven't seen this 'uncursed form' yet, perhaps you would like to show it to us." Nabiki suggested, she didn't see how he would have something like that in the first place, Cyberdolls are _NOT_ in the price range of traveling martial artists, most people didn't even know about them, and the smaller they are the more expensive they tended to be.  
  
"I wouldn't mind." May said. "I will need some hot water tough."  
  
"Let me get some for you." offered Kasumi before tuning towards the kitchen.  
  
"Thank you," May called after her. As she continued down the hall Kasumi smiled brighter than usual, their guests were so polite, it had been ages since someone had thanked her for anything.  
  
-----  
  
In the bathroom a red-faced and thoroughly flustered Akane stayed in the bath until she was sure Ranma was gone. She still hadn't heard the second door close so she wasn't getting out. No way was she letting him get another free show. She was getting more than a little impatient to pound Ranma though.   
  
-----  
  
It only took Kasumi a few seconds to retrieve some hot water; she had been preparing tea for her guests. "Here you are."  
  
"Thanks" Ranma said as he took the kettle of hot water she offered him and poured it on May. A small cloud of steam appeared, accompanied by a small yelp of pain, and when it dissipated there was just a pile of clothes with a moving lump in them.  
  
May crawled out of the neck of her shirt. "Ranma! It doesn't need to be that hot!"  
  
"Sorry May! I forgot." It was an easy enough thing to forget about, after all it wasn't like he had to use hot water on her often and he always liked the fact it burned his pop when he did that. He put his hand out so she would have a place to stand where their hosts could see her and she quickly jumped onto it. "This is May's normal form." Ranma stated as he held her up so Nabiki could see.  
  
Nabiki looked over the miniature May for a moment and had to admit to herself that the only thing she could be was a cyberdoll, other than the cord she looked just like a cyberdoll. "So what's with the cord?"  
  
"My powersupply was broken so Ranma's cousin repaired me." The tiny robotic girl responded.  
  
Nabiki made a mental note about finding out more about this cousin later, repairing a Robot as complex as May would have been difficult to say the least. If he was good enough to fix a CBD as little as May he could be a useful person to have owe her a favor. For now though she was more interested in finding out about May and how Ranma came to get her; no way was she going to believe Genma over Ranma, she knew people and Genma looked like he would lie about anything while Ranma would have trouble lying about what his favorite color was. Besides you can't drown a cyberdoll. "So what type of cyberdoll are you May?"  
  
"I am CBD May 1/6th scale maid model robot. I may be small but I have high capabilities."  
  
"Oh? Such as what?" Kasumi asked interestedly. Nabiki already knew the basic uses of cyberdolls and the general pros and cons of smaller models. The maid types like May were generally day planners, secretaries, or traveling companions due to their inability to actually clean well but were not very popular due to the creation of a secretary model that did a better job of the first two chores.  
  
May bent her legs and leapt backwards flipping several times and allowing her cord to fly out behind her. She added several fast kicks, punches, and a spin for effect and landed on Ranma's head with a level of jiggling that Nabiki was surprised hadn't caused a nosebleed from Ranma, she was naked and very realistic after all. "Like learning martial arts."  
  
"Oh-my. That was very nice May. Though it really would be best if you put on something." complimented Kasumi, concerned for May's lack of modesty.  
  
"Huh?" asked May in confusion.  
  
"You're naked." Nabiki stated in a droll manner.  
  
"Oops." Ranma said and grabbed an extra set of clothes for May out of his pocket and handed it to May; he kept it there for just such an occasion. "Sorry May, I forgot about that." Before Ranma was done apologizing May was already dressed, super speed is useful even when not fighting.  
  
"That's alright." May reassured Ranma and patted him on the head.  
  
Nabiki sighed, cyberdolls generally weren't programmed for modesty, in fact one of the more popular choices of programming was very adult in nature. She couldn't help but be revolted that that was probably why Ranma had gotten a maid type, unlike her younger sister though she could at least understand it; boys would be boys, not that that made it any less wrong. "And why exactly did you choose a maid type?"  
  
"Choose? I didn't choose anything. Someone just gave me May while I was staying at my cousins." Ranma answered in confusion  
  
"Someone just gave you a cyberdoll?" Nabiki asked in disbelief. Nobody gave away something like that unless you were someone important…or related to someone important. "You said your cousin fixed May? Did he work at Cyber dine?"  
  
Ranma thought about it, it made since but he wasn't sure. "I don't know. He was working with robotics and AI but I was really little so I didn't think about asking."  
  
Nabiki was becoming increasingly interested, seems like she managed to get engaged to someone who was somehow connected with the most advanced robotics company around. "And how old were you?"  
  
"I dunno, seven or eight probably. Why?"  
  
He'd had May for eight or nine years. That got Nabiki's mind racing about the possibilities. Cyber dine had been selling CBDs for about six years so Ranma must have been related to one of the founders and May must have been one of their old prototypes that they hadn't needed anymore. If she was right Ranma was related to one of the higher ups in the company. She could practically feel her business connections forming already. Oh that's right Ranma had asked her a question. "Oh no reason. It's just good to know more about my fiancée."  
  
Ranma froze up a little "Well, erm, if you say so." his statement was followed by a moments silence as Nabiki went over ways to subtly suggest that she meet with his cousin and Kasumi and May simply couldn't think of something good to add to the conversation. "So, um do you study martial arts?" Ranma decided to follow Nabiki's example and find out a bit more about his temporary fiancée. The arrangement was stupid but he could at least try a bit for the sake of honor.   
  
"Huh?" Nabiki was shaken out of her plotting to find a question directed towards her but recover quickly enough. "A little, I mostly just try to keep in shape. Akane and daddy are the real martial artists in the family."  
  
"Oh, mind a little sparring to see what you can do?"  
  
Nabiki figured it would be a good idea, it might make him feel more at ease around her and it would give her an excuse to see what else he was capable of. "Sure, but I haven't sparred in ages."  
  
Kasumi saw it was the end of the conversation and decided to get back to work. "Well then it looks like I'd better get back to cleaning."  
  
"I'll help." May said from atop Ranma's head.  
  
"Oh there's no need to go to the trouble May." Kasumi reassured her guest.  
  
May leapt onto Kasumi's shoulder so she would be easier to hear. "It's no trouble at all. I'd be glad to help."  
  
"Oh, well thank you May." Kasumi gave the doll a bright smile as she turned to head downstairs behind Ranma and Nabiki.  
  
-----  
  
In the bathroom Akane growled slightly to herself. When someone finally closed the bathroom door Ranma would pay.  
  
-----  
  
AN: yo all. I know it's been a bit…. okay a long time, but look I wrote some more. YAY! I actually had a bit of free time. Now tell me what ya think, good, bad, ok I don't care what ya say it is but lemme know because the only way it'll get better is if I get some feedback. Feedback also has a tendency to make me wanna write more. So mail me Jester_of_doom@hotmail.com   
  
Oh and I'll probably have my own website before the school year is out to put my stories on. And after schools out I should have a whole lot more time to write. Later all. 


End file.
